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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mbau",
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"content": "Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Chairman of the Parliamentary Budget Committee which is anticipated to be legally anchored in the proposed Bill, for ably moving this all important Fiscal Management Bill on my behalf and on behalf of the House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as you know, this Bill is long overdue. We have moved along with this matter for far too long. I would like to thank hon. Members for the support they have given to me and the Committee that we have run along with in bringing this Bill for debate today. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the cardinal objective of the Fiscal Management Bill is ideally, to bring the budget-making process of this country into the hands of Parliament. This is because it is known that Members of Parliament are the representatives of the people. At a certain time, there was this dictum that there would be no taxation without representation. In the past, the Budget was formulated, executed and brought here for easy passage by Parliament. It is eventually audited without the involvement of Members of Parliament. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill will play a role kin to the one which is played by the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). It is going to be like a national CDF in the way of ensuring equitable distribution of resources of this country to every corner of the country through December 04, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3891 the Central Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the past, some regions in this country have suffered, depending on which side of the political divide they belonged. It also depended on who was exercising State executive power. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to submit and urge my colleagues that the passage of the Fiscal Management Bill will ensure that Parliamentary Committees or Departmental Committees have an input and recommendations considered by whoever will be involved in the budgetary process at the Treasury. This will take this country a long way in terms of distributing resources rationally and prudently. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are talking about Kenya running towards achieving very noble objectives as enshrined in Vision 2030. Members of this Committee will bear witness to the fact that other not so forward looking countries around Africa and the rest of the world have already put a budgetary committee in place. I would like to cite countries like Ghana, Uganda, South Africa and others. In ordinary times, these countries have looked unto Kenya as a good model in terms of setting the pace. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to urge Members to support this Bill. I would also like to urge those who may not have had positive position on this Bill to support it because we do not know who will exercise executive power tomorrow. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill has very good provisions, especially the procedure of incorporating representatives of the people into the process of budget making. We are simply asking the Minister for Finance to lay a Budget Policy Statement on the Table before this House not later than 21st March of every year. When that is done, the statement would be taken up by the various Parliamentary Departmental Committees together with a committee that is going to be in charge of ensuring that this happens; that is, the Parliamentary Budget Committee. The departmental committees would then have time to scrutinise and interrogate the various macro- economic issues, plans, objectives and programmes that are incorporated and proposed by the Minister for Finance, with a view to ensuring that the programmes and objectives reflect the broader interests of the country at large. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as you know, Parliamentary Committees represent every corner of the country. Therefore, should the Ministry of Finance or the Minister for Finance wish to put resources where they do not bear the best interest of the country, for instance, the colossal resources that we have had time and again being put under the Contingency Fund--- These are colossal resources whose value for money is not known. This Committee will ensure that the national revenue is put, apportioned and appropriated as necessary to the best interest of every region of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it shall be expected that after the various Departmental Committees have made their input, contributions and recommendations to a statement laid on the Table by the Minister before 21st March, the same will be included in a report of the Parliamentary Budget Committee. The Committee will present a report to the House, urging the Minister for Finance to consider the proposals and recommendations of the various committees before making the final budgetary estimates. These estimates shall be laid before the House before the 20th June each year. This will assure this House and the country at large that the taxation measures which are included in the report of the Departmental Committee have been approved by the House. Eventually, when the Budget is laid on the Table, hon. Members will feel that they have been involved in the budgetary process. Hon. Members feel okay and easy participating in the debate of the Budget. In the past, information has been withheld from hon. Members Some hon. Members have also not taken a keen interest in the Budget. It has been a case of many voluminous documents being placed in hon. Members' pigeon holes, and they are expected to go through them 3892 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 4, 2008 before they come and contribute towards a document that is alien to many members. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we want to be involved to ensure that the various loans or grants that this country receives from other countries are laid bare in the eyes of the public. This country, at any one time, should know what it owes, to who, where and the repercussions in terms of interests accruing from such loans and indebtedness. We shall require the various Appropriations-in-Aid (A-in-A) that are occasionally raised by the various Ministries, departments and other Government agencies, are also brought to bare and to the light of hon. Members. Currently, what happens is that Ministries will raise a lot of monies in form of A-in-A and go ahead to appropriate the same in a manner that hon. Members only get to hear about them through reports of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). By that time, whatever has been lost, most often than not, has been lost! As you may know, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, until now, there is no effective way in which this country is able to redeem monies that have been misappropriated fraudulently by individuals, officers and others. We are proposing, in this Bill, to ensure that there is a clause that will compel departments and Ministries to withhold incurring expenditures until a report from the Treasury, through the Controller and Auditor-General and PAC gives them a clean bill of health. As you know, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, there are very many cases that have been passed by the Controller and Auditor-General and PAC to the Attorney-General for prosecution and possible redemption of monies lost. But what has tended to happen is that the prosecutor, who is the Attorney-General, has always let those cases go scot-free under the guise of lack of evidence. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we shall be requiring that, through this House, Ministries, departments and individuals are held to account currently, and not after five or ten years. Currently! If they cannot take heat, they should be surcharged and brought to account through this Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to bring to light that this Bill will be requiring the Treasury, on a quarterly basis, to lay on the Table, quarterly reports stating the extent of compliance in pursuit of targets that have been set for the various Ministries and Government departments and deviations that may accrue. The same quarterly reports should clearly state to the House and to the nation what is going to be done between that quarter and the next one, to ensure that matters that may have been deviated are brought back on course. That would also ensure that a Minister, an accounting officer or a head of department knows, for sure, that he or she has only a period - that is three months - to act within the requirements of the law and within the requirement of the interests of this country as expounded in this Bill. While supporting this Bill very strongly, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to end my remarks by saying: For instance, if this Bill was already in force, this country would not have had a problem! Hon. Members would not have had a problem! We would not have found it difficult to agree to what the Minister for Finance had initially proposed in terms of hon. Members paying taxes on their allowances. But I must put it to you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that this business of making hon. Members and the country pay taxes without knowing where the same taxes are going to be applied--- It is the whole idea that has brought hon. Members in a collision course with the tax collectors. I wish that this law will come into effect as soon as is practically possible, so that hon. Members could know, even as I contribute, whatever is going to be the taxable allowance to my kitty. I know the same is going to serve the needs of my people where, otherwise, that money goes on a regular basis. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the time for this Bill has come. I want to urge everybody--- So far, I have not come across any opposition to this Bill. I want to say that this is an December 04, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3893 item whose time has come. It can only be considered the next best from the Constituencies Development Fund Act. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I second, and urge hon. Members to support the Bill."
}